Unqualified Offerings

Newsweek’s interview with National Counter-Terrorism Center head John Scott Redd is . . . refreshing. Redd comes off as straightforward and relatively spin-free. There’s not a lot of rah-rah or alarmism, nor any effort to score cheap political or bureaucratic points. And for just a second, I caught myself thinking, “Imagine if the government as [...]

From the Financial Times:
At the weekend Frederick Kagan, an adviser to President George W. Bush and the architect of the US surge strategy in Iraq, said the special relationship between London and Washington was under threat because UK defence cuts had left Britain’s military unable to sustain simultaneous operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Britain has a [...]

After all that Mike Vick chin-pulling, it’s a relief to be able to take the straight, er, doctrinaire libertarian position on the Larry Craig case.
Look, I figure I’ve been using public restrooms for close to 47 years. In all that time I’ve been aware of one sorta proposition. Ironically, it happened on my honeymoon, in [...]

By Thoreau
I’m procrastinating from preparing for the movers.  Yesterday I talked about putting Cheney’s Ring on the Metro tracks under the Pentagon.  Just having a bit of fun.  But since some of the bedwetters have been remarkably earnest about comparison our current situation to Tolkien’s stories, I thought that perhaps we should explore that issue [...]

They’re really going to bomb Iran. The magnitude of the idiocy and unjustness boggles. After the last five years it’s stupefying. It will be, for all practical purposes, a bipartisan act. It will constitute a massive war crime. Chances are the war is already essentially underway. It’s deeply depressing to watch the whole thing happening [...]

Wired shows off “The 10 Fastest Green Cars on the Planet.” About three of them are biofuel-driven and another couple use similarly suspect power sources, but there are also some cool designs.
Via Brett.

By Thoreau
Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) has pleaded guilty to trying to pick up a guy in an airport bathroom stall.  Apparently he was sitting in a stall next to an undercover cop when he reached into the next stall with his foot and then his hand.
I don’t care if Republican members of Congress are attracted [...]

By Thoreau
Julian Sanchez is taking a break from blogging. Apparently all these animal rights discussions are wearing him out. And one of the main instigators was Jim! How could you, Jim?
I should send Julian a sympathy gift. Maybe foie gras, or a gift card for this restaurant I know that has [...]

By Thoreau
Blogging will be sporadic for the next week or two. I leave for the West either Thursday morning or Wednesday evening, depending on how things go. But before I leave, I offer this thought:
What would happen if diminuitive Dennis Kucinich found himself in possession of some of Dick Cheney’s jewelry? And [...]

From the department of manual trackbacks, incompatible thoughts on those wacky libertarians from mtraven and those confused liberals from John Markley.
UPDATE: mtraven himself asks, “Why incompatible? It’s quite possible that libertarians are wacky and liberals are confused.”